How to access Xbox 360 titles on the New Xbox One Experience with backwards compatibility

The New Xbox One Experience is finally here, and we're running a series of quick how-to guides for the uninitiated!

In this guide, we'll be showing you how to access your existing Xbox 360 discs and downloads, and where to purchase additional digital titles that are part of the Xbox One backwards compatibility list.

For those who might be unaware, it's important to note that backwards compatibility is limited to the 104 titles listed below. In our recent interview with Xbox platform lead Mike Ybarra, he emphasised that Microsoft are keen to add new titles on a regular basis. It's ultimately up to publishers, IP holders and developers whether or not their games end up as part of the Xbox backwards compatibility lineup, but it seems most major publishers are on board.

Below is a list of the titles that are available today as part of the first wave. Microsoft has already teased Halo Reach, Halo Wars, Skate 3, Call of Duty: Black Ops, Bioshock 1, 2 and Infinite for the second wave. Microsoft has also committed to providing backwards compatible Xbox 360 titles as part of the Games with Gold free titles promotion - that means Xbox Live subscribers on Xbox One will receive four playable titles for free every month.

Here's the list so far:

A Kingdom for Keflings

A World of Keflings

Alien Hominid HD

Assassin's Creed II

Asteroids & Deluxe

Banjo Kazooie®: Nuts & Bolts

Banjo-Kazooie®

Banjo-Tooie®

BattleBlock Theater

Bejeweled 2

Bellator: MMA Onslaught

Beyond Good & Evil HD

Blood of the Werewolf

BloodRayne: Betrayal

Borderlands

Call of Juarez® Gunslinger

Castle Crashers

CastleStorm

Centipede & Millipede

Condemned: Criminal Origins

Crazy Taxi™

Deadliest Warrior: Legends

Defense Grid: The Awakening

DiRT 3

DiRT Showdown

Discs of Tron

Doom

Doom II

Dungeon Siege III

Earthworm Jim HD

Fable II

Fallout 3

Feeding Frenzy

Feeding Frenzy 2: Shipwreck Showdown

Gears of War

Gears of War 2

Gears of War 3

Gears of War: Judgment

Golden Axe™

Halo: Spartan Assault

Hardwood Backgammon®

Hardwood Hearts®

Hardwood Spades®

Heavy Weapon

Hexic HD

Ikaruga

Jetpac Refuelled

Joy Ride Turbo

Just Cause 2

Kameo™: Elements of Power

LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game

LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga

Lode Runner™

LUMINES LIVE!

Mass Effect™

Metal Slug 3

Metal Slug XX

Might & Magic Clash of Heroes™

Mirror's Edge™

Missile Command

Monday Night Combat

Monkey Island: Special Edition

Monkey Island 2: Special Edition

Ms. Splosion Man™

Mutant Blobs Attack!!!

N+

NBA JAM: On Fire Edition

NiGHTS into dreams…

Operation Flashpoint™: Dragon Rising

Pac-Man: Championship Edition™

Pac-Man: Championship Edition DX+

Perfect Dark

Perfect Dark Zero

Phantom Breaker: Battle Grounds

Pinball FX™

Plants vs. Zombies

Prince of Persia

Putty Squad

Rayman 3 HD

R-Type Dimensions™

Sacred Citadel

Sega Vintage Collection: Alex Kidd & Co.

Sega Vintage Collection: Golden Axe

Sega Vintage Collection: Monster World

Sega Vintage Collection: Streets of Rage

Shadow Complex

Sonic CD

Sonic The Hedgehog

Sonic The Hedgehog 2

Sonic The Hedgehog 3

Super Meat Boy

Supreme Commander 2

Tom Clancy's RainbowSix Vegas

Tom Clancy's RainbowSix Vegas 2

South Park: The Stick of Truth™

Torchlight

Toy Soldiers

Toy Soldiers: Cold War

Tron: Evolution

Ugly Americans: Apocalypsegeddon

Viva Piñata

Viva Piñata: Trouble In Paradise

Wolfenstein 3D

Zuma

Xbox 360 games from the disc

Backwards compatibility runs on a Xbox 360 software emulator. When you insert a compatible Xbox 360 disc, an icon for the game will appear in the Xbox One recent apps list, below the main tile. The game will then install to your hard drive, using the disc for license verification. Once complete, you can boot up the game as you would normally either via the recent apps list on the dashboard or your installed games list - found at the bottom of the main dashboard menu.

Digital Xbox 360 games

To access games you've purchased digitally, they'll appear in your games list on the far right under "Ready to Install". The only way to get to this area is to scroll all the way across to the right. Select a title by hitting the A button, you'll then be prompted to confirm installation. Once installed, it'll appear in your games list ready to play.

Purchasing new Xbox 360 games for backwards compatibility

As of writing, there's sadly no way to purchase backwards compatible Xbox 360 games via the Xbox One itself. They won't appear in Xbox One search results, and there's no section dedicated to it on the store. If you want to pick up any of the games on the list you don't already own digitally, your best bet is to head to the Xbox Store and do a quick search. Alternatively, you can always purchase the discs from retailers.

Using the Xbox 360 emulator

The Xbox 360 emulator on the Xbox One functions a little differently to the 360 itself. Naturally, you can't access the 360 dashboard - the emulator behaves as if you're running a game.

Pressing both the View and Menu buttons (perhaps more commonly known as Start and Select) on the Xbox One controller will open up the Xbox 360 guide when you're inside a backwards compatible game. You can access some basic settings using the guide, including online status and notifications. You can also configure your cloud saves by going to the storage option.

If you want to bring your Xbox 360 save files over to your Xbox One some of you might want to continue playing saves stored on your 360. If you have an Xbox Live subscription, you can upload the your save files to your personal cloud via your Xbox 360's storage menu, they should then appear as part of the save files when running the game in the Xbox One emulator. Note that cloud saves only upload once you've exited a game, so give it a little while. You can check the sync status using the storage menu, found in the Xbox 360 guide.

While in the emulator, you can use most Xbox One system functions, such as game DVR, Twitch streaming, screenshots and Xbox One party chat. Xbox 360 games on Xbox One behave almost exactly like regular Xbox One games, so be sure to start sharing those clips!

The Future

As mentioned, Mike Ybarra from the Xbox platform team stated they hope to have a monthly release cadence for new backwards compatible titles. It'll ultimately depend on publishers and IP holders whether or not those games get included, but you can make your requests heard on the official Xbox One UserVoice page. Microsoft is also working to solve issues with games that are spread across multiple discs, such as Lost Odyssey and Mass Effects 2 and 3.

What backwards compatible Xbox 360 titles do you want to see in the coming months? I can see myself finishing the Mass Effect trilogy again before Andromeda hits next year.

If you think this guide is helpful, we have many more posts like this in our Xbox help, tips, and tricks page.